Some Aboard: Japan’s New Luxury Train Market

Three Japanese railways are introducing new luxury train services that will make the Shinkansen’s exclusive Green Cars seem like the Yamanote Line at rush hour. Later this year, Kyushu Railway Co. will be starting operations of their “Seven Stars in Kyushu” cruise train, while East Japan Railway Co. announced earlier this month its plans for a new luxury sleeper train to start operations in spring 2016. In March West Japan Railway Co. also announced that it is considering its own brand of luxury trains, but didn’t offer details.

Kyushu Railway’s Seven Stars cruise train in southwest Japan, launching in October, will have 14 suites, featuring personal bathrooms and expanded space, some as big as 21 square meters, or slightly smaller than the size of a 13-tatami-mat flat.

Getty Images

The frame of the rear coach of JR Kyushu’s luxury train ‘Seven Stars in Kyushu’ is seen during a press preview at Hitachi Ltd Kasado Factory on February 5, in Kudamatsu, Yamaguchi.

In the evenings, live piano performances for on-board entertainment are planned. Passengers boarding at Hakata station can wait in a special lounge with wood paneling and furniture backed with deep green and blue fabric. A four-day journey can cost up to ¥550,000, with stops in Aso, an area supporting Japan’s largest active volcano and various wildlife, and Aoshima, an island rich with rare species of flora and fauna.

Akiko Fukumoto, a Kyushu Railway spokeswoman told JRT: “our company’s president had the luxury train concept more than 20 years ago when he was still a section manager, but it was difficult to push through projects with such high costs back then.”

JR Kyushu’s technical strength and the market for luxury travel have matured since the late 1980s. Since its unveiling, interest in The Seven Stars has been high, drawing nine applications for each available ticket in one advance round of sales, according to Ms. Fukumoto.

Meanwhile, JR East’s recently announced flagship sleeper’s projected construction costs are ¥5 billion for the 10-car set, and will be designed by Ken Okuyama–an industrial designer with experience designing both Ferraris and bullet trains. According to JR East, the sleeper is planned to pass through various tourist attractions in Tohoku, an area which includes attractions such as the Shirakami Sanchi–an area of virgin forest which literally means “white god mountain ground” and Hiraizumi, a site featuring various Buddhist Pure Land related temples and gardens, which was recently added to the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

Japan’s luxury sleeper trains date back to 1988, with the launch of the Hokutosei– named after the Northern “Great Bear” constellation–giving overnight train passengers the more indulgent option for travelling for the first time. The next year, West Japan Railway Co.’s Twilight Express opened for business, linking Osaka, in western Japan, and Sapporo and has proved a longstanding hit. In 1999 JR East’s luxury sleeper Cassiopeia — named after the Northern constellation–also began operations.

But this former generation of luxury trains is getting older, and efforts to provide an atmosphere of high-living are getting more ambitious. JR East spokesman Shiro Ochiai said the new luxury train will far surpass their older model, Cassiopeia. “This should reach a level of luxury that we have never had before,” he said. Unlike Cassiopeia, all the rooms will be suites.

About Japan Real Time

Japan Real Time is a newsy, concise guide to what works, what doesn’t and why in the one-time poster child for Asian development, as it struggles to keep pace with faster-growing neighbors while competing with Europe for Michelin-rated restaurants. Drawing on the expertise of The Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones Newswires, the site provides an inside track on business, politics and lifestyle in Japan as it comes to terms with being overtaken by China as the world’s second-biggest economy. You can contact the editors at japanrealtime@wsj.com